


The Black Quarrel

by WinterFlight



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Magic, an assasin who won't kill, fae
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5577520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterFlight/pseuds/WinterFlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone managed to infiltrate the Ranger gathering and left them all unconscious. Halt, the first to wake, can only think of one person who could manage that, a half-fae named Maria. But she left Araluen years ago, before Gilan graduated. And she has no quarrel with the corps.</p><p>"Wait. Your theory is that someone managed to poison the entire Ranger corps? But before that they somehow managed to get us to work up a slight immunity to the poison.”<br/>"Yes."<br/>(On Haitus)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking

*Why?*

The gathering was almost over. The last night was merry and the Rangers were drinking coffee.

*Halt… please…*

Will stirred honey into his cup, for the most part ignoring the teasing form other rangers about it.

*Not tonight. Just this one night, would that kill you?*

Finally, they decided to head to bed.

*I suppose it might, but…*

The next morning, as Halt woke, the first thing he noticed behind eyelids that were refusing to open was that it was light.  
*I’m sorry.*  
Halt got up, mentally cursing himself and wondering why he had slept so late and why no-one had woken him. He exited his tent.  
*I’m so sorry.*  
No-one else was awake yet. Halt frowned, looking around the gathering clearing, searching for anyone else awake. He didn’t find anyone.  
*But of course if I actually told you this… *  
He made himself breakfast-or was it lunch- and a pot of coffee that, strictly speaking, was larger than necessary.

*You’d just try to shoot me.*

After eating, he glanced up and decided that the meal had been lunch. It was far too late to be called breakfast. He started trying to wake the other rangers. The biggest responses were when Gilan moaned and rolled over and Will just rolled over.

*It’s what you did the first time time we met.*

Halt sat back, sipping at a half empty cup of coffee; half wishing he hadn’t dumped the other half on Will’s head. Will still wasn’t up and now he was wasted some perfectly good coffee. ‘What’s going on?’ he wondered. He wandered around a bit more and refilled his coffee cup.

*Then again, that time…*

He tried spilling some cold water on Gilan. Gilan mumbled something about being up and then rolled over again. Halt emptied his cup of coffee on Gilan’s head and Gilan shot up, screaming to wake the dead. He wiped the coffee out of his eyes and looked around wildly.  
“Wazgoingon?” He asked.  
Halt looked at him. “Clarify?”  
Gilan continued trying to get the coffee off of himself. “What’s going on? Why did you dump that coffee on me? Why-”  
“Are you Gilan, or Will?” Halt asked.  
Gilan blinked.  
“I dumped the coffee on you to wake you up.”  
“Y’mean you couldn’t try anything else?”  
“Oh, I did.” Halt said, leaving Gilan’s tent, “You just didn’t wake up then.”

*I also tried to shoot you.*

A suspicion lurked in Halt’s mind, one of poison. But one didn’t just poison the entire ranger corps. And if they somehow had been, why had he woken so much earlier. ‘But why would she do that?’

*Although that can’t be entirely blamed on me.*

“Wait…” Gilan said, holding up a hand, “Your theory is that someone managed to poison the entire Ranger corps? But before that they somehow managed to get us to work up a slight immunity to the poison.”  
“Yes.”  
“And the person in this theory is Maria.”  
“Yes.”  
“Maria Darkwind?”  
“Do you know of another poison mistress named Maria who has the camouflaging skills necessary to have done that?”  
“One, I’d never heard of that title before she mentioned it, two, I didn’t think anyone had the camouflaging skills necessary for something like that.”  
Halt looked at his former apprentice flatly.  
“Three, I thought she said she was leaving Araluen and that there wasn’t much that could bring her back.”  
“She did.”  
“What, exactly, did she say would bring her back?”  
“Same thing she always made room for.”  
Gilan sighed. “Great. Nothing specific, then?”  
“No.”  
“Okay, a few more problems with your theory.”  
Halt made a motion to urge him on.  
“If someone did manage to get in and poison something, how would they know that everyone would get it? I know we’re not really picky eaters, but…”  
“They could have poisoned everything.”  
“Overkill.”  
“Exactly. Some people would die from it.”  
“But there’s no way of knowing who or…”  
“They also could have gotten something in the coffee.”  
Gilan looked down at the cup he was holding. “Who would go and ruin a perfectly good brew of coffee like that?


	2. Wasing the Wanting

*You did try to sneak up on me.*

‘Just one more time.’ Maria promised herself. It seemed strange to promise one more attempt at suicide, especially when she knew she would, eventually, release herself from that promise. She closed her eyes, concentrating. Her heart slowed and she felt her brain shutting down. She felt herself fall and hit the ground before blacking out.  
A few hours later she opened her eyes again. “Curses.” She said, not bothering so be quiet. It would still have been an acceptable volume in a library. She stood and regulated her bloodstream to keep from getting light-headed. She took a deep breath and looked around.  
A rabbit looked at her curiously before skipping into the trees.  
Maria pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and stared at it, biting her lip.

* If I did tell you…*

“Fine.” Gilan said. “I can’t think of anything else. But why would she have done it?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“If there’s no reason-”  
“I didn’t say there was no reason. Just that I didn’t know the reason. You’re acting like an apprentice again, Gil.”  
Gilan blew out an exasperated breath. “Sorry. The last time we saw her…”  
“I know.”

*then that would be a big bag of secrets let out.*

“So, how do we find a person who can sneak passed the entire Ranger corps?” Gilan asked.  
Halt looked at him. “I rather thought we’d ask her nicely.”  
Gilan blinked. “What?”  
Halt shrugged. “It’s only been a few days. She can only have gone so far.”  
Gilan blinked again, trying to decide if Halt was joking or if something had messed with his mind.  
“Why do you think we were able to wake up? Why not anyone else?”  
“You did spill your coffee on me.”  
“No, I poured it. Spilling would imply that it was accidental.”  
“Fine.”  
“So?” Halt asked.  
“Because we’re immune somehow. I thought you said something about doing something?”  
“Yes, and I also said something about patience.”  
“When was that?”  
“When you we an apprentice. And when Will was an apprentice. And when-”  
“Okay, okay.” Gilan held his hands up wardingly. “Anything else?”  
Halt started packing his camping kit. “She has habits just like everyone else. They leave signs.”  
“Not getting it.”  
“Do you want to come empty handed or stay here?” Halt asked.  
Gilan sighed and started packing his gear. ‘Some things never change…’

*And we both have secrets, do we not?*

Maria sat on a tree branch, eating a piece of dried fruit and otherwise ignoring its existence.  
‘What would Jade do…? Other then try to attack me again. Look at it logically. What do the targets have in common, who is he, what’s the end goal, how close is it, how can I get around the directions…?’ She remembered the worn out piece of fruit and swallowed it. She put the package of fruit back in her bag and pulled out a Pipa. Magical bags were handy like that, although the body of the instrument was a bit of a squeeze to get through the opening.  
She tuned it, listening with half an ear as she let her thoughts wander aimlessly. ‘Don’t think. Just do. Look at this objectively. Objectivity is stupid. How did this happen? Why doesn’t anything make sense… well, I guess gravity makes sense… and some of the other laws of physics… Why do numbers work? That note is NOT right… there we go… the leaf is nice… I wonder if Halt’s up yet… that’s a nice breeze… I wonder if it will snow anytime soon… when’s eleventh hour… I’m tired of life… why does time ignore me so much…’ she started playing a song randomly, her fingers moving instinctively. Her mind wasn’t present. ‘I would be in so much trouble… I hope mother can’t see this… I wonder if Halt’s gotten Gil awake… might take a bit longer… why?’ the thought solidified. ‘Why? Is there a point behind any of this? It seems kind of random, just for general mayhem. What good has that ever done anyone? No, not a C…’ her thoughts drifted again and she slept.  
And for the first time in years, it was devoid of nightmares.

*And what secrets they are.*

Gilan heard music. Quiet, lilting, almost ethereal. And on a strangely familiar instrument, one most would find strange and possibly unnerving. He glanced at Halt. Halt nodded. They kept going.  
The music faded, faltering into nonexistence. They continued in the direction it had come from, finally stopping when the little light they had proved inadequate against the darkness of night.

*Too dark for night,*

Maria opened her eyes, looking through the darkened night with fae eyes. She let a small ripple of magic out, like sonar. She waited and let the images it brought filter in. ‘They’re coming…’ she thought, wondering if she should be happy or sad about it. She settled for ‘what took them so long?’  
She slipped down from her tree and crept to their camp. Gilan was on watch. She almost smiled. ‘This should be fun…’ she stalked behind him, quietly carving something into the tree behind him with her dagger.  
Hello.  
She walked silently away.

*Shadow’s blight…*

Gilan looked around the camp as they prepared to leave, frowning. “Halt…” he said, “I don’t remember that being here before.”  
Halt looked at the tree he was pointing to. “I’m pretty sure the tree was there all night, Gil.”  
“Hilarious. The marking?”  
“Looks like a word to me…”  
Gilan grinned. “You didn’t notice it, did you?”  
Halt continued packing.  
“You didn’t! And now-”  
“I noticed it. I was waiting for you to comment.”  
“No, you didn’t see it until I pointed it out to you…”  
“Shut up.”  
Gilan complied, grinning.  
“She did it during your watch.”  
“How can you tell?”  
“The age of the cut.” Halt was guessing.  
‘I think he’s bluffing.’ Gilan thought, but decided not to call him on it.  
“I think we should split up.”  
“Wait… you think that one of the most dangerous people in the world just poisoned the Ranger corps, we’re looking for her, and your plan is to split up.”  
“Yes. Not too far away from each other, but not side-by-side either.”  
‘Covering more ground.’ Gilan finished mentally for him.

*…but I suppose we have past nursery rhymes.*

Gilan walked near the road, not in it or next to it, but along it, a few meters away in decent tree cover.  
“Maria?” He meant to call, but it was barely more than a whisper.  
A whisper.  
Or was it just the wind?  
Again.  
“Gil?”  
Gilan turned and blinked, stunned.  
“ ‘Riah?” He asked incredulously. She had gotten older since they had last met and looked to be close to sixteen or seventeen, an age still ridiculous for the time she had lived, but that wasn’t the only change. Or the one that made her almost unrecognizable.  
Her eyes were slightly widened, fear shining in them light a deer about to be struck by a runaway cart. Gray eyes. Her eyes, but not.  
She was standing about a meter away and looked, for the first time that Gilan knew, fragile.  
And then suddenly she was hugging him, crying silently and shuddering with each breath.  
Gilan held her for a moment while she calmed. He knelt so her arms could wrap around his shoulders properly- she was still pretty short.  
He noticed that her hair was also much shorter, pulled back messily with a badly tied ribbon, dark tangles reaching just past her shoulders.  
“What’s wrong?” He asked when she pulled away.  
“Where’s Halt?” She asked. “I don’t want to explain twice.” Then she added, almost under her breath, “Not that there is much one can explain anyway…”  
“He’s over there a little ways. I’ll get him.” Gilan rubbed the area where her crossbow- hanging on her belt with a quiver of familiar black shafted quarrels- had dug into him.  
Gilan walked away quickly. The feeling of wrong-ness that stretched through the mess had suddenly deepened.  
When they got back Maria seemed to have calmed and didn’t look like she had been crying. She still had a startled, frightened light in her eyes.  
“What’s going on?” Halt asked.  
“Could we go back to where you camped?” Maria asked. “Roads tend to bring people.”

*Haven’t we?*

“Was it you?” Gilan asked once they sat down.  
“Yes… and no…”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Halt asked.  
Maria started at the bare traces of fire from the night before. “One did it… but it was not she that was wishing it was.”  
“’You’re talking in the gibberish again.” Gilan informed her. “Translate, please?”  
“One did it, but it was not she that was wanting it done, only having to do it.”  
“That’s not much better…” Gilan said.  
“You did it but you didn’t want to.” Halt said.  
Maria nodded once, slowly. “Something like that…”  
“So why did you…?” Gilan asked.  
“She could not- not do it… wanting to not to was irrelevant.”  
The girl flinched suddenly, looking up.  
“She needs to be going…” She murmured. “The time is gone… reporting the doing of done…”  
Gilan looked at her, frowning. “What now?”  
“She needs to go… I will return when I can.” Maria stood.  
“Why?” Halt asked.  
Maria looked at him, eyes still filled with fear, pain, and sorrow. “She does not think she can say… and she is afraid to try.”  
“Can you wake anyone up first?” Gilan asked.  
She turned. “I… might…” she glanced back up. “The time is going, almost gone… Not everyone… not most of them- the immunity needs to be worked up slightly first… I could lessen the time and maybe… I can wake Will up.”  
“You can? I thought you just said-”  
“I have come back before- for promises, like I said. I have a healer friend I sometimes visit… Will happened to be there at the same time.”  
“Malcolm?”  
“That sounds about right. I don’t have much time.” She glanced at the sky again and started back to the gathering clearing.  
Gilan ran after her. “You didn’t help at all?”  
“I was busy. They seemed to do fine without me.”  
“Fine and okay are two different things.”  
“I know what I said, Gil…”  
The girl -‘Why do I still think of her as a child?’ Gil wondered- Knelt next to Will and pulled something out of her bag.  
“What’s that?”  
“A thing.” She said absently, opening Will’s mouth and putting the rounding- thing inside. “You don’t have any coffee ready, do you?”  
“No…”  
“Huh. It might help.” She poked the thing further back and almost down his throat, muttering what sounded suspiciously like curses on coffee.  
“Can he breathe around that thing?”  
“Mmm.”  
Gilan reminded himself not to interrupt her.  
She rubbed a finger down wills throat and waited a few moments.  
“That’s all I can do now… she needs to go, now…”  
She stood and ran.  
“Did that conversation help at all?” Gilan wondered out loud.  
“Some.” Halt said.  
Gilan turned, feigning surprise. “Halt! When did you get here? Here I thought I was all alone at this gathering and-”  
“Gilan.”  
“Yes?”  
“Shut up.”  
“Okay.” Gilan said.  
Halt sighed. “Very funny, Gil.”  
“So what was useful?”  
“It would appear that our fae friend has some kind of bond. Did she tell you how long that was going to take to work?” Halt gestured at Will.  
Gilan shook his head. “No. She just said something about being out of time and ran off.”  
“I heard that part.”


	3. Can we get an explanation yet?

*I can almost see you doing it again.*

Gilan poured himself a cup of coffee. Halt was draining his with surprising speed- and Gilan knew Halt pretty well. “Why, Halt!” He said, trying for another sarcastic joke, “I thought you liked coffee!”  
Halt glared at him over the cup.  
Gilan shrugged, grinning.   
“You’re worse than Crowley.” Halt said, taking a rare brake.  
Gilan took a sip of coffee and instantly remembered that he had forgotten to put the honey in. After altering the fact, he was able to contentedly drink the warm, bittersweet liquid. “How does ‘Riah do it?” He wondered out loud.  
“Do what?”  
“Hate coffee.”  
“Probably something fae-ish.” Halt said.  
Gilan turned. “Hello, Will! You’re not forgetting how to stalk, are you?”  
Will shook his head, smiling ruefully. “I just fell a little… foggy.”  
“Huh.” Gilan said, “Imagine that.”  
“How late is it?” Will asked, looking at the setting sun. “I didn’t think I slept that long…”  
“You and everyone else…” Halt muttered, pouring a cup for Will and another cup-full for himself.  
“It’s just been a few days.” Gilan said.  
“Gil, that’s not funny.” Will said.  
“I didn’t say it was…”  
Will looked at him, and Gilan got the uncomfortable feeling that Halt and Will had switched bodies when he wasn’t looking. He knew it was impossible, but Will looked like Halt did when he…  
“It has been a few days.” Halt said, “Goodness knows how long I was out for.”  
“What do you mean?” Will asked.  
“Well, someone managed to sneak by everyone and poison all the coffee.” Gilan said. “Not sure WHY she decided to ruin the coffee like that, but…”  
“You know who did it?”  
“Oh, yes.” Halt said quietly. “An old friend…”  
Will frowned. “Why did you sound like whoever it was actually was a friend, not like you’re being semi sarcastic? And how come-”  
“See?” Halt said, looking at Gilan, “That’s his job.”  
“I was covering for him.” Gilan said defensively.  
“Do I want to know what you’re talking about?”  
“Probably.” Halt finished his cup and swished the pot experimentally.  
“Halt, you’ve had… what, four cups?”  
Halt shrugged.

*You DO know that Coffee isn’t the best thing to drink at night...*

Maria froze, coldness gripping her.  
‘Breathe. In…’  
“Maria… You took long enough.” A man said.  
A sharp pain skewered through her. She blinked, still battling the cold for breath.  
“Did you do it?”’  
“Yes…” She whispered, the word like frost filling her.  
The man rolled a small stone around in his hand. “All of them?”  
“Yes…”  
He dropped the stone in a pouch and the cold lessened slightly. “Last time, you asked why I chose you for this…do you remember?”  
She looked at him evenly, gray eyes filling with anger.  
“You are probably the only person who could have done that.” He said. “The skill required… I am left wondering how I managed to catch you.”  
“What do you want?” She asked, a feeling of ice filling her lungs and mind with the words.  
“All you need to know is what I want from you, little mage…”  
‘Not that… just not that…’ She thought half desperately.  
“Keep Arald out of the way. Lock him in that castle, build a wall around it, knock him a coma, kill him, I don’t care- just keep him out of my way until I am done.”  
“Done with what?”  
“You don’t need to know that. I will tell you when I am done.” The man lifted the stone again. “Go. Come back in two weeks. Alone. Do not tell anyone where this is, when we are meeting, or what I have instructed you to do.”  
Maria was watching the stone. It was a smooth, glossy black with shimmering webs of silver running through it.  
“Oh… Maria?” He said softly.  
She looked back at him.  
“I know you are slipping through as many loopholes as you can. Stop it.”  
“Such a general order cannot be followed correctly.” She said, a thread of warmth flaring in her, “You must specify. Did I not tell you this?”  
He growled, flicking his hand forward.  
Pain filled her like tiny knives in her blood and fire in her bones. She didn’t feel herself fall. Silent screams shuddered in the air.

*Don’t you?*

“I’m not sure I believe all this…” Will said.  
“I didn’t believe it at fist.” Gilan said.  
“What do you mean?”  
“The first time Maria told me she was part Fae? I thought she was joking.”  
“What happened to change that?”  
“Oh, I saw her turn into a bird. That tends to involve magic.”  
“Are you sure you’re in your right mind? This just doesn’t seem… Halt, you said that there were only a few cases where magic wasn’t proven to be some kind of trick…”  
“Maria’s magic is, as far as I can tell, genuine.”  
“Halt, did you use all the coffee already?” Gilan asked changing the subject. “You were drinking a lot the other day.”  
“No.”  
“Do you know where it went? Because my supply is absent.”  
“I wanted to see how you would handle a few days without it.” Maria said.  
Gilan looked up to the tree she was sitting in. “That’s just mean.”  
“Wait, did someone accuse me of being NICE?”   
“No, but wasting good coffee like that…”  
“I didn’t waste it. It’s a great fertilizer.”  
“HEY!”  
Maria grinned, dropping down from the tree.  
“By the way, Will isn’t sure that you’re a mage.”  
“Surprise! Story of my life, right?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Eh, whenever someone finds out I’m a mage they don’t believe it. Not that I can blame them, I didn’t, but… It gets kinda old after a little while.” Maria tossed a small pouch to Gilan. “Happy?”  
“Liar!”  
“Gil! I am deeply wounded by that accusation! I did not lie about the whereabouts of your coffee, I simply IMPLIED that-”  
“if you Children are done with your argument,”  
“We’re not,” Maria muttered,  
“We have more important things to cover.” Halt said.  
Maria and Gilan sat down.  
“Are you actually a mage?” Will asked.  
“Yes.”  
“Can you prove it?”  
“Noooo, I caaaan’t.” Maria said sarcastically, and then cupped her hands like she was making a snowball.  
He eyes paled to near white, pale silver like a spent storm. A metallic smell filled the air as something SNAPPED loudly.  
Maria took one hand off and held out a glowing ball. It shivered bits of it jumping out and back or trailing away.  
“What is that?” Will leaned forward.  
“Don’t touch it! It’s lightning and has several hundred volts of electricity in it. I’m not sure if you’d survive it.”  
She put her other hand back on the ball and pressed her palms together. Another crack and the ball disappeared. He eyes darkened again. “Proof enough?”  
*I’d really hate having to knock you out again.*  
“So what’s going on? You mumbled something vague and ran off.”  
Maria’s face darkened. “I was NOT vague. She said what she felt she could without breaking the… and then she needed to be gone.”  
“Breaking the what?” Will asked.  
“She cannot be saying it! But maybe…” a glint came into her eye, a hint of mischief. “Maybe she can explain without the saying it…”  
“Can you speak Araluen?” Gilan said, “I know Halt can kind-of understand it when you talk like that, but the rest of us can’t.”  
“I was speaking Araluen. Or a butchery of it, anyway.”  
“Exactly!”  
“Can you two stop arguing for five minutes?” Will asked.  
“No.” Halt said, “They can’t. Maria, tell me if I’ve got this straight.”  
The girl shrugged and sat back a little.  
“You’ve been doing things that you don’t really want to do but for some reason you need to?”  
Maria nodded.  
“Are you being blackmailed?” Will asked.  
“Nope.”  
“Then what?”  
Maria stared at the fire, silent.  
Gilan started making some coffee.  
“I think I’ve told Halt about this, and Gilan may have overheard…” Maria said quietly. “Will, have you ever heard of a Soulstone?”  
Halt cursed.


	4. Soulstones and Loopholes

*Except for that last argument.*

“A what?” Will asked.  
Halt spat something out. “Seriously?”  
Maria shrugged. “You cursed. Haven’t you learned by now that that ends up with soap in your mouth?”  
“You haven’t stopped?”  
“Why would I?”  
“What’s a Soul-stone?”  
“One of the few things that is dark magic.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Most magic is neutral. It’s the sentience behind it that is dark or light. A few things are evil or good on their own. A Soulstone is one of them.”  
“What is it?” Will asked. The air felt heavier somehow, darker, as if the mere mention of such a dark object weighted the air. Or maybe it was just responding to the mage’s mood.  
“A rock, duh.” Maria said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t interrupt.”  
“I didn’t!”  
“I didn’t say you did; I was warning you not to.”  
“Okay…”  
“A Soulstone is said to hold a small part of a person’s soul inside of it. Not like a horucrux- another evil thing, by the way- but to bind that person to the stone, giving whoever holds the stone incredible power over them. It restricts Agency-choice. The ritual to create one is almost impossible and few have ever been made. There are only a few things that a Stonebearer cannot force a person to do.”  
“Like?”  
“It can’t force anyone to break promises.” Maria said, so softly it was little more than a whisper. “But promises made after the order is given?” She shook her head, and then shivered. “Dark magic is Dark for reasons. It is not done lightly. People who use it… it warps them. Twists them into darkness. Or maybe it is that in order to want to use it they must be twisted. I am not sure.” An accent had slipped into her voice, each word crisp and clear, sounding slightly formal.  
“So, whoever has your soulstone-”  
“It is not mine. Soulbound I may be, but the creation of darkness is not mine.”  
“Okay… Whoever has it… told you to do what?”  
“She cannot be speaking of this! Would he notting be saying the secrets, they are for keeping of being? Wanting is notting of meaning. He is the knowing of knowing of you and notting the wanting of telling!”  
“I have no clue what you just said.”  
“Surprise.” Maria glared at the ground.  
“DO you know what he wants at all?”  
“People out of his way for something? He won’t tell me.”  
“You haven’t killed anyone, have you?” Will asked.  
The other three people looked at him oddly.  
“I have promised not to. I do not kill. And as I have not promised one, or two or three, the promise cannot be released.”  
“Who did you promise?”  
“Everyone. And everything.” She smiled faintly. “Makes it kind of hard to be released from it like that.”

*That…*

Maria was staring into the fire like she was waiting for her eyes to catch fire.  
She jumped up. “Don’t tell anyone… ANYone… AnyONE…” She murmured, eyes gleaming with excitement. “You really need to learn to close those loopholes.”  
“Who are you talking to?” Will asked.  
“No-one present. I’d tell you to go back to sleep, but you’re on watch.”  
“Thanks for the reminder.”  
Maria grinned. “you’re welcome.”  
“Sarcasm!”  
“Sarcasm… Oh, SARCASM! Yeah, back home people plow with their feet and weed with seeds, so I don’t hear that much anymore. Last I heard it was back in… a while back, when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at.”  
“What?” Will asked, completely confused.  
“Sorry. Paraphrasing. Ignore me; I’m a bit nuts right now.”  
“You don’t say…” Will murmured.

*That does make me want to hit you.*

“Okay, I think I figured something out.” Maria said. Her voice sounded slightly bouncy.  
“Is this going to be like the time you ‘figured something out’ and it ended by me falling in the river?” Gilan asked.  
Will looked back and forth between them, confused.  
“Could be, could be not- couldn’t rightly say. Besides, that time, I was TRYING to knock you in the river.”  
“Are we thinking of the same times?”  
“That time with the whirlwind? I think so.”  
“No. We’re not.”  
“Oh… huh. Wait, which time are you talking about?”  
“That time over in norgate…”  
“OH! Yeah, THAT was fun.” Maria grinned and turned to Will. “Cloaks catch in stuff really easily. And there happened to be a watermill near some staywithme vines...”  
“Riah…” Gil said.  
Maria grinned at him. “What? Am I now responsible for the placement of vines? Because that’s not my thing. Jade, yeah, she’d love that, but I don’t play with plants. Well, outside of medicines and poisons. But…”  
“Not funny.” Gil glared.  
“Not from where you were swimming, maybe, but…”  
“Are either of you older than six?” Halt asked.  
“Six what?”  
Halt sighed. “What did you figure out?”  
“Just a thing… you might want to go to Redmont.” She twisted her foot in the dirt.  
“Why?” Will asked.  
“If I could say, don’t you think I already would have?”  
Will left the question unanswered.

*Kinda hard.*

Will swung up into the saddle. He still wasn’t sure what was going on, but Halt and Gilan seemed to have a good grip on it.  
They started riding. Will glanced back once and Maria made a shooing motion.  
When they were about three meters away, she started talking.  
“So… yeah, I’ve been told not to tell anyone, and I’m not telling anyone, meaning not one person, or a person, or just anybody. Also, I’m talking like in those ‘modern’ thingers, so it probably won’t make too much sense for anyone who…” She made another shooing motion. “Happens to be overhearing this conversation I am having. With this tree here. Ahem. So, there’s this guy, I’m not sure who it is exactly, other than someone not nice- I’m thinking he’s got something against this kingdom, which only kinda makes sense. I mean, yeah, it’s not perfect but, like, seriously? Where is? I digress. So… he’s been making me- Yes, I do mean making, because I don’t really have a choice- do all kinda nota fun stuff. Poisoning friends and their allies, etc. So far I am detecting almost no correlation –am I using that right? Whatevs- between targets, other than they’re in positions of power, so maybe this guy is, like, jealous or something? But it doesn’t quite feel like that… okay, is just feels really, really cold, but anyways. So far I’ve got some barons, like the next target that got thrown at me- pretty forcefully, too, I might add- and there’s the entire Ranger corps… that’s kinda generic…”  
Will glanced at Halt. The older Ranger didn’t seem to notice what Maria was saying.  
“Oh, yeah, there were a few couriers? And if you talk to any of their friends, tell them not to worry, they should be fine… I think… yeah, they should be. Drow poison mixed with acacia tea’s only deadly to elves, right? Well, yeah, and half elves, but that’s not really important… yes, I keep that stuff around! What, do you think I’m going to kill my sisters sometimes? I was joking. Joke-ing. You really don’t have a very good sense of humor do you? O-of course you do, why did I think otherwise? Like I was saying… Hey! Are you still paying attention? Look, I know you don’t like talking to air mages, but Jade’s kinda stuck in our realm so, NO, she can’t come. Like I was SAYING. I’m not sure how much I can tell, I don’t think I can tell names or anything like that, Don’t really want to try it either, because that’s cold. Really, really cold. Brr. Anywhosies, so my Next target’s supposed to be a Baron? Except that he’s a friend of some of my friends? And that’s SO not nice that- Will, What are you doing? You aren’t listening to this conversation are You?”  
Will blinked.  
“Because I’m not allowed to tell people this stuff… yes, you are sentient, but you don’t count as a person because you’re not humanoid. I know, I’m racist.” This last part seemed to be directed at a tree. “Although if you want to talk about racism, try elves and dwarves sometime. Actually, don’t because they’re NUTS! I mean really, really nuts. More nuts than Lift-Ach’Lledier and Em mixed together… yes, that’s really nuts! Why would… augh. I don’t think I can say much more… I feel cold…” She trailed off.  
Halt sped up noticeably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at some point I may bring in measurements, and as I (unfortunately) am unfamiliar with the metric system, I'll have to use the imperial system.


End file.
